# US 2017/0280993 A1 · Information processing apparatus, control method for an information processing apparatus, and storage medium having stored thereon an execution program for the control method > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2017/0280993 A1 - Document ID: US20170280993A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 15/468,322 - Filed: 2017-03-24 - Published: 2017-10-05 - Earliest claimed: 2016-03-29 - Assignees: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha - Applicants: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha - Inventors: Makoto Fukuhara; Hiroki Uchida - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20170280993A1 ## CPC - A61B 3/102: {for optical coherence tomography [OCT]} - A61B 3/0025: {characterised by electronic signal processing, e.g. eye models} - A61B 3/0041: {characterised by display arrangements} - A61B 3/1233: {for measuring blood flow, e.g. at the retina} - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) ## Abstract Provided is an information processing apparatus configured to acquire more optical coherence tomographic images in a smaller amount of imaging time while suppressing reduction in longitudinal resolution. The information processing apparatus includes: a sampling unit configured to sample interference light between return light from an object to be inspected which has been scanned with measuring light and reference light corresponding to the measuring light; a data extracting unit configured to partially extract, from an output from the sampling unit, data included in the output at a longer sampling interval than an interval for sampling the interference light by the sampling unit so as to generate a plurality of data sets; and a forming unit configured to form tomographic information on the object to be inspected based on the generated plurality of data sets. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An information processing apparatus, comprising: a sampling unit configured to sample interference light between return light from an object to be inspected which has been scanned with measuring light and reference light corresponding to the measuring light; a data extracting unit configured to partially extract, from an output from the sampling unit, data included in the output at a longer sampling interval than an interval for sampling the interference light by the sampling unit so as to generate a plurality of data sets; and a forming unit configured to form tomographic information on the object to be inspected based on the generated plurality of data sets. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the forming unit comprises: a unit configured to generate a plurality of tomographic images based on each of the generated plurality of data sets; and an arithmetic operation unit configured to perform a correlation operation between the generated plurality of tomographic images to calculate blood flow information as the tomographic information. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the forming unit comprises a unit configured to generate a plurality of tomographic images based on each of the generated plurality of data sets; and the forming unit is configured to generate an averaged image as the tomographic information by averaging respective pixel values of the generated plurality of tomographic images. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the forming unit is configured to form information relating to a motion amount between the generated plurality of data sets as the tomographic information. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the longer sampling interval used to partially extract the data by the data extracting unit is fixed when the data is extracted from the output. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) An information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the longer sampling interval comprises an interval for extracting every w-th piece of data included in the output from the sampling unit, where w represents a number of the plurality of data sets. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the output from the sampling unit comprises m outputs obtained by scanning the object to be inspected in the same scan line with the measuring light m times; and the data extracting unit is configured to generate the plurality of data sets from each of the m outputs. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the measuring light and the reference light are emitted from a light source being a wavelength-sweep light source capable of sweeping an optical wavelength over time; and the sampling unit is configured to sample the interference light at a predetermined equal wavenumber interval based on a sample clock output from a clock generating unit. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) An information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the sampling unit is configured to perform signal processing for doubling a number of pieces of data included in the output. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the sampling unit comprises: a spectroscopic unit configured to separate the interference light into spectral components; and a plurality of light-receiving elements configured to receive the spectral components; and the sampling unit is configured to sample the interference light at a predetermined equal wavenumber interval based on outputs from the plurality of light-receiving elements. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display control unit configured to display on a display portion a tomographic image generated from the tomographic information on the object to be inspected, wherein: the forming unit is capable of generating the tomographic image having a first imaging depth range based on the output and the tomographic image having a second imaging depth range smaller than the first imaging depth range based on the generated plurality of data sets; and the display control unit is configured to select any one of the tomographic image having the first imaging depth range and the tomographic image having the second imaging depth range, and to display the selected tomographic image on the display portion. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) An information processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein: the object to be inspected comprises a fundus of an eye to be inspected; the tomographic image having the first imaging depth range comprises a tomographic image having a depth range equal to or larger than 4.0 mm; and the tomographic image having the second imaging depth range comprises a tomographic image having a depth range smaller than 4.0 mm. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) An information processing apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising a scanning unit configured to scan the object to be inspected with the measuring light, wherein the extracted plurality of data sets for generating the tomographic image having the second imaging depth range is based on output light obtained under a condition that a scan angle range of the measuring light used by the scanning unit is smaller than 47°. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) An information processing apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising a scanning unit configured to scan the object to be inspected with the measuring light, wherein the data extracting unit is configured to extract the plurality of data sets for generating the tomographic image having the second imaging depth range when a scan angle range of the measuring light used by the scanning unit is smaller than 47°. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) An information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the object to be inspected comprises a fundus of the eye to be inspected; the information processing apparatus further comprises a scanning unit configured to scan the fundus with the measuring light; the scanning unit comprises an imaging range setting unit configured to set a predetermined range of the fundus to be scanned with the measuring light in a two-dimensional scan pattern formed of a predetermined number of scan lines; the imaging range setting unit is capable of changing a scan angle of the measuring light used by the scanning unit between a first imaging range equal to or larger than 47° and a second imaging range smaller than 47°; and the sampling unit is configured to obtain the tomographic information in an imaging depth range equal to or larger than 4.0 mm inside an eyeball of the eye to be inspected. ### Claim 16 A control method for an information processing apparatus, comprising: combining return light from an object to be inspected which has been scanned with measuring light and reference light corresponding to the measuring light to obtain output light; sampling the output light by a sampling unit; and forming tomographic information on the object to be inspected based on a data set output by the sampling unit based on the output light, wherein: the forming of the tomographic information comprises partially extracting data included in the output data set at a longer sampling interval than an interval for sampling the output light by the sampling unit so as to generate a plurality of data sets; and the tomographic information on the object to be inspected is formed based on the generated plurality of data sets. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) A storage medium having stored thereon a program for causing a computer to execute the respective steps of the control method for an information processing apparatus of claim 16.